The People of Lindgren
by Rettop92
Summary: The people of Lindgren was a legend, one most of the rulers of the Enchanted Forest refused to acknowledge. That is until Prince Thomas is forced to admit their exictence after finding out that a friend of his belong to this hidden people, and soon he is off on an interesting journey with a strong redhead and the daughter of a robber.
1. Limestone cities and legends come alive

**Hi everyone! Okay the thing is, my friend and I sort of got this idea a while ago and I stated to write it to see where it would lead and now I really want to know what you think. I liked the idea even more myself from the fact that ****Emilie de Ravin who plays Belle actually stated that one of the main characters in this story was her favorite fairytale character as a child. I have only ever read these stories in their original language so a lot of it will be directly translated or my own english verson of a character's way of saying things. Well, hope you'll enjoy it!**

******Disclaimer: I own nothing except maybe tha plot in this, I have yet to add a character that doesn't allready excist in one way or another so all credit to the writers of Once and the wonderful childbooks author that owns the rest**

* * *

Limestone Cities and Legends Come to Life

The people of Lindgren was a legend, one most rulers of the Enchanted Forest refused to acknowledge. But they were real, very real. Spread out over the land were men, women and children who all would listen to the call of Queen Astrid should it ever come. Most of them were commoners or wanders, some were robbers or thieves, some actually nobles, no royals however. Most were born into the culture of Lindgren but some found out and joined later in life. This story starts with one of the people born into this underground world.

* * *

A young girl was walking alone through the forest towards an opening in the trees up ahead. She was young, maybe fifteen or sixteen, with dark hair chopped of just beneath the chin and just as she walked pass the tree line to gaze down on the valley she closed her brown eyes, spread her arms and let out a scream of pure joy.

"Cherry Valley" she said with a smile and dropping her arms, the scream still ringing in the air.

The valley beneath her was a wonderful sight as it stretched towards the sea in the spring sun. Fresh green grass stretched from where she stood down to the clear water of the sea only interrupted here and there of bundles of trees of which most wasn't big enough to even be called forests. Fruit gardens seemed to pop up here and there among the farms and the river glittered in the sun that was just rising over the mountains. She started to move down the slope she stood at the top of towards the road that snaked its way towards the old town located on the shore. As she walked along the road she passed many people who were either on their way somewhere or just relaxing in the grass along the road. A vagabond and his son were stretched out under a cherry tree, a woman was looking annoyed at the broken wheel of her cat-pulled cart and on a bridge over the river was a group of children, one of them had just dropped her shoe in the water.

"Madicken, what are you doing?" the older girl asked and the ten year old spun around.

"Ronja? When did you arrive?" the girl asked giving her a smile that was only half genuine, probably had something to do with the shoe in the water.

"Two or three hours ago, why is your shoe in the water?" Ronja answered.

"She wanted to see if it float" one of the boys said and Madicken looked sheepish.

"Did it?" Ronja asked looking over the railing.

"No" the boy answered with a grin and Ronja shook her head.

"Come on Madicken, you're joining me to your mom" she said and the younger girl sighed but followed.

By the archway through the limestone wall that surrounded the town was a girl around Ronja's age. The girl had bright red hair in pigtails that was standing straight out, freckles all over her face and was currently standing on her hands scratching her ear with her foot. Ronja smiled, she had missed her.

"Hi Pippi, resting your feet?" Ronja asked and the redhead nodded and took her foot out of her ear.

"Yup, come on robber girl, Astrid is waiting" Pippi said falling in beside them walking on her hands. "Jonathan is here by the way" she said.

"He is?" Ronja asked surprised, the young man didn't spend much time in the town other than the fights with Katla the Dragon, that had actually been defeated last fall by Jonathan.

"Pippi, why did you have your foot in your ear?" Madicken asked, clearly not understanding the significance of the conversation, not that the older girls minded though.

"Because you shouldn't scratch your ear with anything smaller that your elbow" Pippi answered as matter-of-factly, she often said things like that, things that didn't really make sense at first, not that much of Pippi made sense at all actually.

They continued along the road with Madicken pondering what Pippi had said.

"Heard anything from your dad, Pippi?" Ronja asked as they walked through the town.

"Nope, I think he still has trouble with Hook, I mean really why not just pick the man up and hang him on the wall?" Pippi asked shaking her head from her up-side-down position.

"Not everyone is as strong as you Pippi, do you really think your dad can do that?" a voice asked and all three girls turned towards the voice.

"Course he can Jonathan" Pippi said smiling at the young man.

Jonathan Lionhearth was a few years older than Pippi and Ronja and one of the most popular people among the Lindgrens, a hero due to his defeat of Katla the Dragon but you rarely saw him in town, he and his younger brother Skorpan, whose real name was Karl, were most often traveling the rest of the world. Jonathan's friend couched to show that he was there.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Thomas this is Pippi, Ronja and Madicken, girls this is Prince Thomas" Jonathan introduced them.

"Pleasure to meet you, Your Highness" Madicken said curtsying.

"Same to you" Prince Thomas said glancing curiously at Madicken's bare foot and at Pippi who was still on her hands, Ronja completing the ensemble with cloths fit for a well-of-robber.

"Don't ask" Jonathan advised his friend who laughed.

"Wasn't going to, I believe there's a man somewhere who takes consil from a cricket so what's a girl on her hands?" Thomas said and Jonathan smiled.

"Can't be very sound advice" Madicken said confused.

"You haven't heard the Cricket Tales?" the young man asked and the girl's eyes lit up.

"Those are true?" she asked excited.

"Who knows? But my father once said that he had met a man who could talk to insects" Thomas said and Madicken's eyes were wide.

"That would be great to see" Pippi said as her own 'pet' monkey Mr Nilsson jumped down from a building landing on her foot.

"It really would, but we got to get Madicken home now or her mother is going to be even worse than it's already going to be because of the shoe in the river" Ronja said and Thomas looked amused.

"So that's where it went, we'll join you, Thomas need to talk to Lady Astrid anyway" Jonathan said and Thomas looked interested.

"This is Lady Astrid's daughter? Father said she didn't have any children" Thomas said.

"She does, Madicken here and her younger sister Lisabet" Jonathan said and Thomas nodded as they started to walk along the roads again.

"Just, Madicken doesn't sound like any name I've ever heard before…" Thomas trailed off and Jonathan started to laugh.

"My real name is Margareta and Lisabet is really named Elisabeth but no one calls us that" Madicken explained and Thomas nodded in understanding.

"A bit like Skorpan then" he concluded nodding to Jonathan who smiled.

"Exactly" he agreed as they stopped by a road blocked by two collided carts.

"Hey, Pippi" a voice called from the top of one of the carts and they look up to see a boy in Pippi and Ronja's age. "Could you give us a hand?" he asked and Pippi smiled.

"Could? Of course I could Tommy" Pippi smiled and Ronja quickly took Mr Nilsson off Pippi's feet as the other girl bent her arms and jumped into the air landing on the top of the carts.

Thomas looked surprised and Ronja couldn't resist sniggering quietly, he hadn't seen anything yet. Pippi held a loud and short conversation with the people on the other side of the carts from the top of them as Tommy and his twin sister Annika climbed down to stand beside Ronja and Jonathan who both greeted them happily as they backed away, Jonathan pulling Thomas with him as the other young man questioned what Pippi with her red pigtails standing straight out could do. Ronja, Tommy and Annika glanced at each other with meaning looks in their eyes as Pippi did a backwards summersault down and causally lifted up one of the carts. Thomas' jaw hit the ground when he realized that she was lifting the cart completely on her own. Jonathan couldn't hold it in anymore started to laugh at the young Prince's look while the other teenagers settled for grinning.

"There, try not to do that again" Pippi said when she had moved both the carts out of the way and Tommy's father, who had been driving one of them, smiled and nodded.

"We'll try Pippi, thanks for the help" he said and they continued along leaving Tommy and Annika behind with their father to help clear the rubble away.

"How… how…" Thomas spluttered and Ronja and Jonathan laughed.

"Spit it out, besides, she has been that strong as long as I have known her" Jonathan said giving a shrug at the end.

"I don't know, it's always been like that" Pippi shrugged not really thinking it strange.

"Jonathan what haven't you told me?" Thomas asked looking at his friend.

"A lot" Jonathan said unsure of the reaction.

"Like?" Thomas tried to get him to talk.

"You wouldn't believe me" Jonathan said and Thomas rolled his eyes.

Ronja and Pippi shook their heads as they entered the courtyard of Lady Astrid's home. It was a bustle of activity around the courtyard and quite a few people seemed to be looking for something.

"Madicken!" a voice called and they all turned to see a woman walking towards them. She was neither young nor old with a few grey streaks in her curly, brown hair. She was walking with such sureness towards then that Thomas had to wonder if she had seen him at all. "Have you seen your sister? She's been gone for several hours" the woman said sounding worried. "Where is your shoe by the way, young lady?"

"I haven't seen her Mom, she was asleep when I left" the girl said and the woman frowned.

"And the shoe?" she tried again and Madicken looked down guiltily.

"It's on the bottom of the river, Lady Astrid, she wanted to see if it float" Ronja answered for the younger girl and Lady Astrid sighed.

"Little Miss Splendid as usual, get inside your tutor is waiting" Astrid told her daughter who sheepishly walked towards the main building.

"I'm sorry about that, none of you happen to have seen Lisabet?" Astrid asked and the once who even knew what the girl looked like shock their heads. "Where could that girl be?"

"Mr Nilsson can help look" Pippi offered and Thomas looked confused at her wondering how she could offer a man who was not there's help, that was until the monkey on her shoulder started to nod quite eagerly.

"Thank you Pippi, I was about to ask Sofia for the help of her doves actually but he is very welcome to help" Astrid said as the small guenon jumped from the girl's shoulder and hurried of up a pole.

"I could talk to her, oh, and Lady Astrid, this is Prince Thomas he is here to speak with you" Jonathan said apparently preparing to hurry off.

"Thank you Jonathan, it's good to see you and you and Skorpan is eating with us tonight, no excuses" Astrid said and Jonathan smiled, she was one of the closest things he had to a mother since he had showed up here.

"Yes, we will, I'll see you all later" he said hurrying off to talk with Sofia.

"Well then Your Highness why don't we take this inside?" Lady Astrid said gesturing to her home.

* * *

"So, why are you here Your Highness?" Lady Astrid asked sitting down behind her desk with a smile gesturing to Thomas to take a seat in the comfortable chair across from her.

Well…" Thomas trailed off before he could even start as Pippi pulled herself up to round crossbar by the window and hooking her legs around it causing her to hang upside down while Ronja plopped down on one of the corners of the desk as if it was not strange at all.

"Don't bother, she spent many years living on the sea with her father, she is like that" Lady Astrid said as she noticed where he was looking.

"Oh, anyway my father wanted to send someone here to see how you were doing after the winter, you know with the dragon and all last fall" Thomas explained.

"And he sent you? Your Highness correct me if I'm wrong but aren't you an only child?" Thomas nodded confused by the question. "Then why would the King send his only heir to do something like this?"

"I offered actually, I have known Jonathan for a few years and I felt that I needed to get out of the castle so…" Thomas said with a shrug.

"I see, you can tell your father that he doesn't have to worry about us, Katla was not a new enemy but an old one finally defeated. We have survived several winters after her attacks and in a way that is what we do, if you want to hear about a hard winter I imagine you should ask Ronja here. Or how much snow did you have this winter?" Astrid asked looking to the girl.

"No more than usual, but of course that means we're snowed in at least part of the winter so that isn't saying much" Ronja shrugged. "I just hope some Greydwarves and Wildvittras died in it"

"You can always hope" Pippi agreed and Astrid shook her head fondly.

"As you can see we're fine and if your father has any ideas of giving Jonathan a title or honor or something you should probably put that out of his head. We don't want too much attention" Astrid said turning back to Thomas who looked surprised and a bit suspicious between the women.

"I was under the impression that Greydwarves and Wildvittras were just legends" Thomas said slightly accusingly.

"Everything in this valley are legends according to the rest of the world" Astrid dismissed his words. "After all, have you ever heard the People of Lindgren being referred to as anything else than such?"

* * *

**And then it's done, if you like it I'm sorry to say don't expect chapters regulary because I'm useless at that and I have school to think of but I do hope to continue this. See you next time!**


	2. Packing, Dinner and a Strange Story

**Hi everyone, however many people there might be that read this. Here is the next chapter with a few new characters, some background and some magic. I really hope that people like this but I'll keep going whatever you do or not, just saying.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except maybe the plot, the rest belongs to the writers of Once and to Astrid Lindgren, or her family or something I guess.**

* * *

Packing, Dinner and a Strange Story

Thomas had no idea what to say. He looked between the three females in the room trying to figure what Lady Astrid meant by her last statement. Pippi and Ronja were of no help as both looked at her curiously. Astrid smiled at him and stood up to take a book of a shelf behind her desk.

"I know it sounds strange but it is what we do, we keep ancient secrets and protect people from them, Greydwarves and Wildvittras might seem extinct but they still exist even if they are most common around Ronja's home just out of the valley" she explained sitting down again.

"I thought the People of Lindgren was only stories, legends" Thomas said looking between them somewhat desperately.

"Didn't you say something like that about the Cricket Tales? Beside you just told the leader of the Lindgrens that she and her people are legends" Pippi reminded him and Thomas swallowed.

"It's like your ghosts Pippi" Ronja said earning confused looks from both Astrid and Thomas this time.

"Even if they don't exist, they don't have to scare people senseless, should I think" Pippi commented and Thomas had a hard time making sense of that statement.

"We argued about whatever she had ghosts in her attic about two years ago and she said that and Tommy, Annika and I couldn't continue the argument after that" Ronja explained smiling widely.

"You sure there isn't ghosts in her attic? With that house I wouldn't be surprised" Astrid said calmly looking out the open window and suddenly smiling hopefully. "Looks like Sofia might have found her"

Thomas and the girls turned to the window, how Pippi who was hanging with her back to it managed remains a mystery, and saw a white dove fly towards the window.

"Let's just hope it's good news" Astrid said as she stood up to meet the bird.

The white dove sored into the room and came to rest on a perch standing opposite Astrid's desk and they all looked at it expectantly and in Thomas case confused. The dove was pure white and somewhere in his mind Thomas found himself comparing it to a ghost. Suddenly it opened its beak but instead of singing the voice of a woman came forth.

"I've found her, Astrid" the bird seemed to say. "But you won't like it, she was taken by Tengil's men and out on sea" Astrid gasped and looked downright scared as the bird told her this.

"Have you contacted Saltcrow? Or Efraim?" Astrid asked urgently.

"No use in contacting dad, he has Hook to keep an eye on" Pippi commented.

"I've been in contact with Nisse and they are sending out Albertina to meet them" the voice said and suddenly it softened from the professional tone it had been using. "Calm down Astrid, Tengil's men won't stand a chance against Albertina, you know that"

"I know but I'm still worried" Astrid said giving the sea a glance out the window.

"I'll tell you as soon as I know something, oh they are fighting" the dove said and the bird closed its eyes.

"Sofia, are you watching them?" Astrid said and the dove opened its eyes again and Thomas could have sworn that its gaze was skeptical.

"Of course I am, what did you think I was doing?" it asked.

"Sorry, keep an eye on them, I want to know the moment she is safe" Astrid said and the bird nodded and closed its eyes again.

"Your daughter has been kidnapped?" Thomas asked as Astrid sunk down in her seat again.

"Yes but it seems like it will solve itself but I need someone to go to Saltcrow and get her tomorrow" she said starting to leaf through her papers.

"We can do it, right Pippi?" Ronja said and Pippi nodded in agreement.

"Can I join you? I want to help, if you protect the rest of this world from all these things then I want to help you" Thomas said and Astrid smiled, he would make a good king one day.

"Sure, then you can meet more Lindgrens as well" Pippi said swinging back and forth on her crossbar.

"I was kind of hoping for that" Thomas admitted and Astrid smiled despite the situation.

"Then that is settled, you should get packed, you're going there whatever Nisse and Melker manage to save her or not" Astrid said and the three teenagers nodded and Pippi jumped down from the crossbar landing on her feet.

"Let's get going, your stuff is still at my house Ronja" Pippi said and the three of them filed out with Astrid's leave heading first to the inn where Thomas had his things and then on to Pippi's house outside the city.

* * *

Thomas stared at the yellow, or mostly yellow, house in front of him, who in their right mind would build this? The house was wooden and painted yellow with pink details and a pale green roof. The garden was quite wild with several apple trees and a hedge of lilac. In some strange way the place seemed to fit Pippi perfectly.

"Come on, we need to get a few things" Pippi said and Thomas shook away his chock and followed the girls into the building.

The inside was as strange as the outside when it came to this house. Thomas was quite sure he had never seen paint in some of the colors that was on the walls in there. He believed that he got his biggest chock upon entering the kitchen however and finding a horse head in through the window.

"Hi Little Old Man" Pippi said pulling some sugar cubes out of a cupboard and offering to the horse.

"His name is Little Old Man?" Thomas asked coming up to pet the horse.

"Yep" Pippi answered cheerfully as the horse ate the cubes from her hand.

As he petted the horse Thomas took the chance to study it closer. It was a white horse and black dots that almost matched Pippi's freckles. Thomas had to chuckle at his own thought, a horse with freckles.

"You think we need to raid your trunk, Pippi?" Ronja asked opening a box of the counter. "How much did you bake this Yule?" she added looking into the box.

"All over the floor as usual" Pippi said casually and Thomas walked over to Ronja just to find the box full of…

"Gingerbread?" he asked picking up a cookie in the form of a shoe.

"Yup" Pippi said and she was quickly out of the room and Thomas heard her move up the stairs.

"Come on, you got to see this" Ronja said quickly following her friend with Thomas at her heals.

They found Pippi in her bedroom already busy packing a carpetbag with things. Thomas was most surprised to find a pirate hat and a sword hanging on the wall, the hat more than the sword. Ronja seemed quite at home in the house and just went up to the bed and pulled out a trunk from underneath. Thomas curiously watched as she opened it and could only gape at the amount of gold in it.

"How did you get that?" he asked turning to Pippi.

"From my dad, Captain Efraim Longstocking" Pippi answered and Thomas was surprised.

He had heard about Captain Longstocking before and knew the man was a great captain who had reappeared after being gone a few years ago and was now known by some as Negro King. He knew that the man was essential in the safekeeping of the seas and he had kept Captain Hook at bay more than once, he just couldn't imagine that such a man had a daughter.

"You think her parentage is shocking? Wait until you find out mine" Ronja mumbled glancing up at the man. Her father and his men had bad reputation even though they chose their victims carefully and mainly attacked Tengil's or the Queen's men. Thomas didn't appear to have heard her however as he kept his gaze at the redhead.

"How many chocks will I get among the Lindgrens?" Thomas asked and both girls grinned.

"Many, oh so many" Ronja said and Pippi picked down the saber from the wall.

* * *

Lady Astrid, secret Queen of the Lindgrens, stood by the window in her office looking worryingly at the sea. Her daughter was out there and her subjects and friends where fighting to save her, she hated to just stay put.

"Astrid, she's going to be fine, Malin just took her over to Albertina" the dove said from its perch.

"Thank you Sofia, are you pulling back your doves?" Astrid asked her longtime friend and the most trusted messenger among her people.

"Some of them but I want to see her safely on Saltcrow before I pull back completely" Sofia's voice said.

"Come to dinner later, I think we confused the Prince a bit" Astrid said and she could almost see her friend's smile.

"Of course, I'll show him my little talent" Sofia said. "They are sinking Tengil's ship now"

"Good, the less ships and men that man has the better" Astrid said calmly and the dove shock its head, probably imitating Sofia.

"You'll never learn. By the way, the King of the Land of Faraway has found his son and the boy is on his way" Sofia said and Astrid swung around.

"Really? That is wonderful, he has been looking for nine years after all" Astrid said happily for her friend. "I'm going to assume that he is rejoining us?"

"Yes but he has problems at his boarders so he will be busy for a while" Sofia said.

"I'll ask Pippi and Ronja to take a path by there, they seem to be up for doing the round this year" Astrid said.

"Saltcrow first this year?" Sofia asked and Astrid nodded.

"How is the boy coming by the way? You have not sent your doves for him have you?" Astrid asked.

"No, I just helped finding him, the King sent one of his genies to get him" Sofia said. "I could not do with him as I did with Skorpan and Jonathan"

"Because this is his real home world" Astrid nodded and the two women fell silent.

Astrid could remember when Sofia's doves had found the two boys in the Collecting World. It was a world without magic of its own but with an uncanny ability to collect stories from other worlds if though with slight errors in the tales and a vast number of ways to move between worlds. Sofia's doves could go there, they could fly between the worlds almost as easy as they crossed the mountains of this world and on one such journey they had found Jonathan and Skorpan. Astrid shook her head sadly, both boys were technically dead and neither spoke much about their life before coming to this realm but both had laughed their heads of when they found out that Princess Snow White was a fugitive, Astrid wondered what that could be about but both clamed shut when she asked.

"Which world was the young Prince in by the way?" Astrid asked realizing that her friend might get just as amused reactions as she had to different people.

"The Collecting World of course" Sofia answered and Astrid was sure that her friend knew what she was thinking.

* * *

Jonathan and Skorpan Lionhearth were moving towards the court of Lady Astrid around time for dinner that evening. They were walking with talk and laughter and the spread yawns from fourteen year old Skorpan, he didn't sleep well this time of the year. As they neared the archway to the courtyard Jonathan's steps began to slow, Thomas was bound to be there. He did not feel up for telling their tale and especially not this time of the year when Skorpan already had nightmares about it. Spotting his friend standing with Pippi and Ronja beyond the archway Jonathan realized that he didn't have a choice.

"Pippi, Ronja!" Skorpan said happily. "Thomas, I didn't know you were here"

The two brothers had met the Prince two years prior during one of their trips outside Cherry Valley and Jonathan and Thomas had struck up a strong friendship immediately. Now Jonathan was worried what would happen with that friendship when Thomas found out the truth.

"Hi Skorpan, what does that mean by the way?" Thomas asked turning to Jonathan.

He knew, Jonathan was sure of it, Thomas knew what was different about the people here and Jonathan would have to tell his tale at so point so why not now.

"It means The Rusk" Jonathan explained.

"Seriously? Suddenly I feel sorry for you" Thomas said and Jonathan had to wonder why his friend had never asked about the nickname before.

"I see that you are here but why are you standing around? It's dinnertime" a voice said and an older woman walked up to them.

"Of course, Sofia. Thomas, this is Sofia she is Lady Astrid's Head Messenger" Jonathan explained and he smiled at his friend's confused look.

Sofia was clearly over fifty and while she surely was fit to ride he could understand why Thomas was skeptical.

"We have met" Sofia said bowing politely to the young man.

"We have?" was Thomas very confused response.

"In a way" Sofia said as she lifted her hand and letting one of her doves fly out of it. "Come, dinner should be ready shortly" she said as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Thomas and Jonathan lingered behind the others for a moment and as Thomas looked at Sofia with amazement Jonathan gathered his courage.

"You know, don't you? Who the people in this valley are" he asked and his friend turned back to him.

"Yes, Lady Astrid told me" Thomas said as they started to follow the others. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"To anyone else we're legends, tales told around a campfire or to children as bedtime stories, we're a fairytale something people love to hear about but don't really believe in" Jonathan said.

"True, I mean I heard those stories as a child, and I imagine many others did as well. But, what's a fairytale?" Thomas asked confused by his friend's choice of words.

"Stories told to children where Skorpan and I come from, I can tell about it later it's a long story" Jonathan said not looking forward to it but knowing that sometime he would have to tell.

Thomas nodded and they entered a private dining room where Pippi, Ronja, Sofia, Skorpan, Astrid and Madicken were waiting. Sofia was apparently reassuring Astrid even more of that Lisabet was safe telling her that she had spoken to Nisse and Melker before she left home and that Lisabet at that point had been happily playing with Skrollan, Melker's granddaughter.

"Good there you are everyone take a seat and we can eat" Astrid said upon spotting the two young men at the door.

* * *

Astrid sent Madicken to bed immediately after dinner as punishment for the lost shoe and the girl left with a defeated look on her face. Skorpan's yawns had gotten more frequent over the time of dinner and Jonathan tried hard to get him to go to bed even with all his protests.

"I can't sleep anyway, they come every night" Skorpan said fisting his hands in his lap well visible to all of them as they had moved from the table to some comfortable chairs in front of the fireplace.

"Who comes every night?" Pippi asked.

"The dreams, nightmares" Skorpan said turning away and a few tears escaped his eyes.

"Of what?" Ronja asked, both girls could be so rude and blunt however nice they usually were.

"Of before we came here" Skorpan said and Jonathan gathered his little brother in his arms like he had done so many times when they were younger and Skorpan was sick.

"But that is five years ago, how can you still have nightmares about that?" Pippi asked and the only reason that Jonathan didn't punch her was that she wasn't saying it evilly but rather curiously, and of course that she could just pick him up and hang him on a nail in the wall if she wanted.

"It's hard to explain, but I think I should" Jonathan said turning to his brother. "Can you stand hearing it or do you want to leave?"

"I'll stay" he answered "Jag är ingen liten lort" he said confusing most of them.

"It means 'I'm not a little dirt'" Jonathan explained to his confused friends before taking a deep breath before he dived right into his tale that he had only ever told Astrid and Sofia before. "We are not from this world; we were born and lived until five years ago in a world very different from this one. Our parents died when Skorpan was just two years old and we were sent to foster parents. It's not easy living like that and Aunt Edla and Uncle Sixten was not the best replacement for parents. When I was twelve and Skorpan eight he got sick" Jonathan started to tale.

"In what?" Thomas asked clearly choosing to ignore the part of another world for a moment.

"An illness called Tuberculosis it attacks mainly the lungs and is deathly if not treated. The doctors, healers that is, tried but could do nothing for which reason they had to tell Skorpan that he was going to die" Jonathan said, tears visible in the corners of his eyes. "It was horrible, he was not allowed to leave the house and had to lie in bed almost all the time, and was not allowed to see our younger foster brother Bosse or any of his friends. They wanted me to stay away as well but were aware of that that wasn't happening so they let me be. But watching your little brother die is not fun in any way, it's horrible" Jonathan said and his audience listened closely.

"It was during that time that Jonathan told me about Nangijala, the place you come to after you die, a land beyond the stars where it is the time of campfires and fairytales, a place where I wouldn't be sick anymore" Skorpan said and Jonathan smiled.

"I thought I made that up, and in a way I guess I did but not really. A fire broke out in our house one day, Skorpan was home alone as I was in school, Bosse at a kind of mass babysitter, Uncle Sixten at work and Aunt Edla had gone out shopping before picking up Bosse. I was just returning home and saw the house on fire, the only thing on my mind was Skorpan. When I couldn't find him outside with the other residents of the house I hurried inside. I run to the rooms that belonged to our 'family' and found him there among the flames. We tried to get out the way I had come but it was impossible so I, thirteen years old, pulled Skorpan up on my back and jumped out a window" Jonathan said and tears were now running freely down his and Skorpan's cheeks while visible in the eyes of his friends. "I died that day, the jump killed me. I got so badly hurt from landing on the street that I died a few minutes later, the last thing I saw was a group of pure white doves circling above me"

Jonathan paused there and looked around, he saw tears streaming down Ronja's cheeks as well as Astrid's, Sofia's head was bent and Pippi had covered her face with her hands. A lone tear ran from the corner of Thomas eye.

"Then I woke up here, under the cherry trees in early spring" he ended but Skorpan picked up.

"I survived that day but not much longer. I missed Jonathan's funeral because I was so sick and two months later it was my turn. I was missing Jonathan something terrible when suddenly a white dove landed of the ledge of the open window. I took it as a sign that Jonathan was right about Nangijala and suddenly I was here, standing under the same cherry trees Jonathan had, and just a day later" Skorpan told them and all of their young friends stared.

"You died? But how are you here then?" Thomas asked and Jonathan smiled sadly as he saw the tears falling from his friend's eyes.

"Sofia's doves caught our souls because it was not our time yet and upon arriving here we gained new life, and a much better such than the one we used to live" Jonathan said.

"And you dream of this?" Thomas asked Skorpan.

"Every spring, and I am sometimes afraid of that I will wake up and realize that the last five years was just a dream, that I really has only been dreaming and is actually lying sick in my bed" Skorpan said and everyone bowed their heads, it was not something they wanted to think of.

* * *

**And chapter 2 is done, and I even got a bit of a Swedish lesson in there for you (nothing mayor but still ;)) I hope you like it and I'll try not to take all to long to get the next chapter up. See you then!**


	3. Midnight Conversations and Leaving Shore

**Hi again, if anyone is reading this. This chapter has a lot of conversation and a bit of quirks to the characters. Also I hope you all have guessed where Jonathan and Skorpan is from and I'm going to play a bit with that later ;) Hope you all like it.**

******Disclaimer: Once again I don't own a thing**

* * *

Midnight Conversations and Leaving Shore

Thomas couldn't sleep. He lay awake in his bed at Lady Astrid's court thinking. So much had happened today. Legends had come alive before his eyes, his friend was not of this world and said friend was also dead. One of his father's guvnors was actually queen of a people of legends completely unknown to everyone. He shook his head and got up to take a walk through the corridors to clear his head. He shuddered as his bare feet touched the bare stone floor and he quickly put on his shoes and quietly left the room. The corridors were cold and quiet during the early spring night, and Thomas found himself very awake due to the cold. By a window was someone, he couldn't tell who in the pale moonlight from the clear sky. As he neared he saw that it was Jonathan standing there lost in thought as he stared at the sky.

"Back in my world I sometimes snuck out into a park near where we lived to watch the stars, it was hard to see them from time to time as the city was so bright. There were lampposts all over the city and they lit up the sky enough to make it hard to see the stars" Jonathan said turning his head to look at him in the dim light from the moon which was the only source of light in the empty corridor.

"What's a lamppost?" Thomas asked walking up to stand beside his friend.

"Basically a pole with a lantern on the top" Jonathan explained giving of a sad smile. "Back there a place like this was stuff of stories and legends, I never imagined that there could be a place like this"

"What was that place like?" Thomas said curiously but also feeling that Jonathan might need to talk out.

"In itself it was pretty good, I mean what orphan would get to go to school here? There was no magic there but countless of tales about it so imagine my surprise when I found out that there was real dragons here" Jonathan said. "The problem with that place was that no one wanted me and Skorpan and I really think I'm more fit for a world of fairytales than the one that collects them"

The two young men stood quiet for a moment just watching the full moon.

"It looks the same you know" Jonathan commented and Thomas looked at him confused. "The moon, it looks the same as in that world. I made up Nangijala, this is not it. Not the way I imagined it but to me and Skorpan that is what it is"

"If I was you I would just be happy it didn't end with that jump. How is Skorpan by the way?" Thomas asked.

"Asleep, Ronja sung to him and he actually fell asleep. I have to get her to teach me that song" Jonathan said smiling slightly.

"Good, but now you can't sleep instead" Thomas said also smiling.

"Neither can you obviously, I'm fine, Skorpan isn't the only one who has trouble sleeping this time of the year" Jonathan said.

"Maybe you should let Ronja sing for you as well" Thomas said and Jonathan went a faint pink that was nearly undetectable in the pale light. "You like her!" Thomas said quietly with a wide grin spreading across his lips.

"Shut up, I can bet I'll be the one to have the last laugh in that about you and whoever you fall in love with" Jonathan said blushing slightly more.

"I have no plans on falling in love and get married" Thomas declared and Jonathan smirked.

"We'll see about that"

* * *

"He still asleep?" Pippi asked pulling her blanket of her head to simplify talking to her friend who had just entered.

"Skorpan is but Jonathan wasn't there" Ronja answered as she made her way to the window and sat down in it and turned her eyes on the moon.

"You're thinking about what they told us" Pippi said and Ronja nodded.

"It just can't work" she sighed.

"Work? Of course it works, in this case it's just rare" Pippi said wiggling her toes in her too big shoes.

"You always say so weird things but other worlds" Ronja said shaking her head.

"Why not? If there is a place where everyone walk on their hands why not another world?" Pippi asked.

"There is such a place?" Ronja asked and Pippi nodded.

"He'll be fine, it was good for him to get it out after five years of silence" Pippi said.

"He is dead, I feel so sorry for him" Ronja said.

"He doesn't seem to mind too much" Pippi commented bouncing her feet on her pillow.

"You think this is okay?" Ronja asked annoyed.

"Yes, because he thinks it is okay and besides I'm not the one with a thing for him" Pippi said and Ronja went beet red but before she could say anything Pippi had pulled the blanket back up over her head.

* * *

Pippi was one of those annoying people who never was tired and even when she was she didn't act it. Ronja grumbled at her the next morning due to this but Pippi didn't pay her any mind, it was her own fault that she hadn't slept. Pippi would have been slightly more comforting if the other girl had at least tried but nope, Ronja had been sitting in the window when Pippi fell asleep and she was still sitting there when she woke up. Pippi was currently standing on her hands on a fence in Astrid's yard arguing with the housekeeper, Madam Prüzelius, who Pippi liked to call Prusseluskan. The woman had never liked that Pippi lived on her own but had gotten better over the years and now a-days most of their conversations went very similar.

"Pippi, behave like the young lady you are" Prusseluskan said once more, probably for the fifth time that morning.

"But I am, I behave like me. And I'm not a Lady, that is Astrid" Pippi answered.

"Pippi, young women your age do not do handstands on the fence" the woman argued.

"Yes they do, I'm a young woman my age and I do this therefore young women my age do this" Pippi said from her upside down position.

Thomas stood a few yards away and was slightly afraid to interfere. He was amused by the scenario but did his best to cover his yawns as to not get the woman on his case. Ronja arrived during the conversation and told Pippi that they were ready to go and Prusseluskan left muttering that children needed a stable parent. Ronja kept yawning as they walked towards the harbor with Pippi somehow balancing all their things on her hands and didn't bother trying to cover it up. Thomas had noticed that neither of the girls acted as if they had been raised by what his father would call respectable people, not that his father had anything against peasants but nobles who acted like them was a slight thorn in his side. He didn't think either of them were nobles though, Ronja's cloths were rough and clearly made for outdoor use and to camouflage in the surroundings among the many miles of forest this world contained. Pippi's cloths on the other hand was just strange, clearly fixed after being ripped several times and always in bright unusual colors and with her braids the sword at her side looked very out of place. Pippi had lived on the sea for a long time which probably added to her way of behaving, discipline didn't seem to have been a constant in her life and probably not so much in Ronja's life either.

"OSCAR!" Pippi exclaimed as they entered the harbor, and she quickly dumped their things on a few passing sailors who stared dumbly as the young redhead flew at the man she had spotted and clearly knew as he picked her up and spun her around.

"Who is he?" Thomas whispered to Ronja who just shrugged.

"I don't have a clue, I don't know any sailors, I'm a forest girl" she answered.

"It's good to see you Pippi, how have you been?" the man asked putting down the teenager.

"Good, how about you and all the others?" Pippi asked eagerly.

"I'm fine and so were the others last I saw them, I'll join you out to Saltcrow and then I continue on to Foam Island where I'll meet up with the rest of the crew" he said smiling. "So who are your friends?"

"This is Ronja and Thomas, we're doing the round this year" Pippi explained.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Oscar I'm first mate on Hoppetossa usually but the Captain sent me off with a message to Astrid" the man said offering his hand to Thomas who shook it.

"It's nice to meet you" he said and the man moved on to shake Ronja's hand.

"Hey, kid! What were we supposed to do with this?" one of the sailors asked Pippi showing on their luggage.

"Just move it aboard the ship" Oscar told them and grumbling about landlubbers they did as told.

"Landlubbers?" Pippi asked amused.

"Not you, as they'll notice soon, but your friends might be" Oscar said looking apolitically at the two of them.

"I think I know what that means and yes I am" Ronja said not angry at all. "But then I'd like to see how they'd do in the woods"

* * *

Thomas was standing by the stern of the boat where he had been told to go when he asked where he was least in the way. He was watching as the limestone town disappeared behind them, it was a beautiful sight. As the prince of one of the kingdoms with access to the sea this was not the first time Thomas was on a boat, unlike Ronja who was currently standing by the side rail looking slightly green, but he was no sailor and certainly made no claim to be such which was why he kept out of the way. Pippi on the other hand was hanging in the rope ladders with Mr. Nilsson on her way up to the lookout completely against the Captain's orders. Thomas turned and watched slightly amused how Oscar tried to explain to the Captain that there was no way Pippi was going to get hurt or be in the way for that matter but the man wasn't listening and actually seemed to like Thomas the best of his new passengers. Oscar soon lifted his hands in defeat told the Captain one last thing that did not seem to please the man and walked up to Thomas instead.

"He won't get her down from there easily, and she certainly won't fall" he said looking down in the water below.

"I can understand that" Thomas agreed with his back to the railing as he watched Pippi climb higher. "Why don't you just tell him that she is Captain Longstocking's daughter? He is bound to let her be if he knew"

"I see that you have heard about my Captain and yes he probably would but you can never be sure of someone's reaction to Efraim, not after he was gone for all those years" Oscar agreed.

"Yeah, my father was a bit unsure as well when he heard that he had returned but it didn't take him too long to accept that he was back as long as he is not caught stealing" Thomas said.

"You are newly recruited right?" Oscar asked interested and Thomas turned to him confused. "No Lindgren would question Efraim even after that so I assume your father isn't one of us"

"No, he's not" Thomas agreed slightly unwilling to reveal his identity as he always was when on his adventures when he met someone who didn't already know.

"How long have you been involved then?" the sailor asked and Thomas snorted, he wasn't even sure that he really was a Lindgren.

"I found out that your people was something else than stories _yesterday_" he said and Oscar started to chuckle, placing his head on his crossed arms that rested on the railing to keep it from being obvious.

"New was it" he said and Thomas rolled his eyes, he liked this man.

"Extremely new, I'm not even sure if I am one of you" Thomas said.

"Who told you about us?" Oscar asked seriously.

"Lady Astrid" Thomas answered confused by the question.

"Then you are as good as one of us, it's just not official yet" Oscar said and Thomas got thoughtful. "If you want to that is"

"I don't think what I want is the problem here, are there any duties involved with being a Lindgren?" Thomas asked, his duty was first and foremost to his people and he couldn't change that.

"To protect the people of this world from things they have forgotten exist mainly, then it depends a bit on who you are and what you do for a living" Oscar said and Thomas clearly saw the hint there.

"I already have many duties and will have even more when my father dies or retire so I do hope I don't have more duties than that one because that one I can do" Thomas said still unwilling to reveal who he was.

"Then that will probably be your only duty when your father passes and you inherit whatever title he has" Oscar said calmly, Thomas was clearly not the first person with a title who had joined the Lindgrens.

"He's the King" Thomas confessed after a moment of silence and Oscar turned around from where he had been leaning forwards on the railing so that he now was looking directly at Thomas with his right arm still resting on the railing which Thomas still had his back against.

"Oh" he finally managed to get out, it was clearly not what the sailor had expected. "Then Your Highness I'm sure you would find a way to do both that one duty for us and all your others at the same time as you decisions would affect us greatly anyhow" he continued slightly awkwardly.

"Don't remind me, I came to talk to Lady Astrid because I needed to get away from it for a while" Thomas groaned. "And even that was on my father's behalf"

"Did it have to do with Katla?" Oscar guessed and Thomas nodded. "That dragon always worried us, we never knew if Pippi was safe or not. We're all very thankful to Jonathan for that"

"What bugs me is that I didn't even know that the dragon existed before last fall" Thomas said sounding slightly frustrated. "I've known Jonathan for roughly three years and I never suspected a thing, never knew just how amazing he was"

"How did you meet him?" Oscar asked intrigued by how normal the Prince acted for someone with a title like his.

"Three years ago I was off on my first trip alone through the forest and everything seemed to go well, I was just supposed to visit King George with a message from my father and had jumped at the opportunity. The second night I was away I stumbled on a small camp in the wild. Two boys were sitting by the fire, one my age and one several years younger. We shared a camp that night and close to midnight a band of roughs tried to take us down but Jonathan and I managed to hold them off while Skorpan packed up our things and we fled through the night. It was wonderful and I realized that I had done way too little of such things so the three of us joined together for a while then and I've met them a few times since. I have not spent too much time home since that day but I don't regret what I'm doing because I'm still helping, just not in my father's way _and_ I like to think I know the people better than he does" Thomas explained with a fond smile.

"Can't be too certain about the last part, who knows what he was up to when he was young" Oscar said and Thomas laughed even if the sailor had a point.

* * *

Ronja was not having as nice a time as Thomas or Pippi and had spent the last hour by the side of the boat doing her best to keep her breakfast. It was decided then, she and boats bigger than a canoe did not get along. She couldn't wait until they got to shore and the ground beneath her feet wouldn't roll around anymore. She forced back another wave of nausea and felt a hand on her shoulder.

"In my experience it feels better if you actually get it out" the young sailor behind her said.

"I like to keep my breakfast thanks" Ronja said.

"Don't think of that, you are bound to get smoked bloater when you get to Saltcrow anyway. I've heard they make great such there" he said.

"I've never tasted" Ronja said before losing her breakfast to the waves, she sure hoped he was right about that fish.

* * *

Pippi laughed happily where she stood on top of the sail looking across the ocean. This was her domain, the sea had been her home for a long time and still was whenever she got out on it. It was just a bit sad that it wasn't Hoppetossa's mast she was standing in, she missed her dad but hey, the man was Negro King and had to keep an eye on Captain Hook, especially after Jonathan's odd reaction to the name. It was often like that, Jonathan and Skorpan would either be concerned when they heard a new name or they would laugh their heads off as they had when they heard that Princess Snow White was on the run, and why had they asked about dwarves? Pippi had a feeling that she would never understand it. Jonathan and Skorpan were odd, and that said something coming from her. Maybe their reactions had something to do with this other world. Ah, well, it didn't really matter right now. The only thing that really mattered at the moment was the feeling of freedom that came from standing high up in the mast watching the sea and trying to spot their destination far ahead.

"Isn't it wonderful, Mr. Nilsson?" she asked petting the monkey that was seated on her shoulder and the animal chipped a response happily.

This was freedom, Pippi had nothing against the woods but this was better. It even beat that weird thing she had built of her bed last year with Tommy and Annika, and that big piece of cloth with hot air in had made the bed fly! But the sea would always be first in her heart.

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**AN: And that's that. Next chapter we arrive to Saltcrow Island (Seacrow apparently a correct translation acording to wikipedia) which means new characters who can get into trouble. See you next time!**


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